August 22nd Part 2

Half an hour after I received a call from Han Han, I drove down the highway while keeping my eyes locked on the roadside for signboards that could lead me to Felix’s house in Sri Hartamas. No trouble occurred when I searched for Felix’s house, putting aside that blocked junction that could have brought me straight to Felix’s house rather than having to travel around the whole housing area into the second entrance. 

So there I was 15 minutes later at the front gate of Felix’s house to find myself being greeted by friendly family members and friends of Felix’s. Soon, I found myself joining the grilling, putting fat pieces of chicken onto the wire gauze, right above those burning charcoals to be barbequed. Aaroni on the other hand, who we jokingly suggested that he could have majored in Culinary Engineering because he seemed to be very interested in culinary, obviously, was happily seasoning his potatoes with onions and seafood with tom yam pastes, and wrapping them up with aluminum foils before barbequing them.

Han Han was so occupied with seeing others BBQ stuff that she’s always seen near the “pit.” Maybe she has a thing for guys who barbeque because I suppose she thinks they’re hot? Wake up please, it’s because they’re smothered by the heat emitted from those burning charcoals. *Jokes* Anyways, she later found herself a new obsession, which was to barbeque sausages without actually leaving any burnt marks on them.

Then there’s this guy whom Felix knew from Frisbee pick-ups, named Terrence was hyperidrosis-ing while he bit into his chicken with relish. Apparently, he found it amusing to bang every single sentence Han Han said and that peeved her alright. Although Han was always thought to be offensive in a way, especially when she’s talking, she appeared to be rather vulnerable that night, revealing much flaw in her speech that were subsequently being corrected by the one and only Terrence. I see a Yin and Yang balance there. Maybe they should get together so that Han would be tamed.

I was at this table for a short moment with this bunch of funny people before I decided to join Han who was barbequing her sausages. They were chatting and laughing away like there’s no tomorrow while I sat speechless at a corner as I did not see any humor in what they said. That’s what happened when you’re in a place of strangers and could not blend in well – Awkwardness it was.

And of course, we had Felix’s darling – Hershey joining us as she wandered around the porch, leaving nothing behind but sets of footprints. Poor Han who couldn’t rear dogs in her apartment found herself calling out for the dog and happily caressing and stroking its shaved fur whenever she got the chance. I’m certain that Han had a whale of time then.

Then gambling time came and all gamblers registered themselves at the dining table, putting in a minimum of RM15 or was it RM10 for some chips in order to get started with. It was poker they were playing. I couldn’t bear watching them play for more than 5 minutes because it was so darn boring, so I got out of the house to the porch where Han was kindly giving Felix’s parents a helping hand in wrapping up the mess we all made.

When the cleaning was done, Han, Terrence and I sat around the little round table and had a small chat with Felix’s parents. Riz, the jobless guy joined in after he got tired of watching the ongoing football match alone, bringing along the leftovers which he had been gnawing on since God knows when. Few minutes after the clock stroke 12, the gambling ended and they all swarmed out of the house, getting ready to head back home.

After a brief camwhoring session, we bade our goodbyes and parted our ways.  

August 22nd Part 1

So much have happened lately that I couldn’t spare some time to blog. Even if I have the time, I would kindly donate it to my movies. At least 2 movies a day would do just fine. Anyways, before I embark on another movie adventure, let me finish what I’ve started here. (I don’t have to go to college tomorrow)

It was a fine Saturday morning where most people wake up to a perfectly normal day, and perform their daily routines. I was the absolute opposite.  The moment I opened my sleepy eyes, I already knew that August 22nd, today, was going to be the most happening day.

About 2 weeks before today, I was invited to Felix’s farewell BBQ party via Facebook, the site where most people hang out online, spending endless time nosing around, browsing through people’s albums, playing games and quizzes that are IQ lowering, and other unproductive activities. Then, exactly 1 week from today when I was working with the worst company ever in history Ape Ideas, I was invited to a birthday celebration by one of my “colleague.” Just when I was torn between those 2, I had another one slapping at me the night before today.

CLASHING! How am I supposed to attend all 3 at one go? I wondered. I was desperately in need of 3 Seans. The plan was to attend Felix’s one and ditch the other 2 since I’ve promised him to turn up today. The birthday party was out of the story after I knew there was going to be a clubbing session right after and besides, I would have to hitch a ride from a friend because the venue was somewhere in Kepong, sorry. So I was lazy to find myself transport and I would be a killjoy eventually because my curfew’s at 1.

The thought of attending Tze-En’s farewell never flashed through my mind until I got a call from Han Han telling me that Cock had something on, so they would be going to Felix’s crib later. So yay enough, I drove to Chow Yang and to my surprise, 13 people showed up. It took minutes for all of us to settle down around that huge circular table, squeezing ourselves like sardines to fit into that inadequate space. It felt like Chinese New Year’s Eve when one big family is having a reunion dinner.

While waiting for the food to be served, we bumped into Mrs. Lee, our former teacher back in Taman Sea High School, who happened to be dining there as well. She came over and had some chit-chats with us before heading back to her table.

It has been awhile since we met, so we were busy catching up with each other. Whoever organized this farewell was smart enough to choose a Chinese restaurant, where making loud noises would never get ourselves into trouble. Great job done there.

I left at around 9 while everybody was planning to head to somewhere else after the dinner.

Not in any of the pictures: Wei Hoong! Haha. Sorry~

To be continued…

Sunsilk – The Best Brand for Shampoo in Malaysia

An innocent-looking ID at Lowyat forum deceived the best of us and lured us into taking the bait. 4 runners and an army of female ambassadors were all they needed to ensure the roadshow was a success.

It was Wednesday morning when we marched anxiously down the grave-silent hallway, thinking that this job could we tackle and handle with ease. All we had in mind was that simple job scope that had been briefed to us back in Dataran Prima and we could not help but smirk. Not knowing that we were about to be enslaved and tormented with stern and gay supervisors, ridiculously short break times, hours of standing, work that was beyond our responsibilities, and not forgetting a low payment and the longest pay term on earth.

The first day wasn’t as bad as you think it is. Personalities were still being left in dark corners while fancy masks were donned. However, some preferred to give people a bad impression about them and that’s just so idiotic. Like this guy I know, he’s too clever and smart in a way that he was coercing me mentally and physically into doing all the filthy and labor work while he did those sissy ones. It peeved me alright but I swallowed all my anger in in order to avoid unnecessary commotions and chaos. Such noble of me. Sometimes, it could be quite hard to work with assertive people.

The day went on with me realizing that I was going to work with 2 people I’ve met prior to this roadshow, and from that moment, I know I’ve got company! I didn’t really know Clement back in HELP although we once attended the same LAN class during the first semester of 2009 but now it’s an utterly different story. He came to know me as Chloe’s friend. Heh~! The second person was Kheng Loong, a guy I work with in the Cadbury Event. I couldn’t recall the whereabouts I met him until the 3rd day when he told me that he was working at the Cadbury Event as a mini-game marshal that it finally disentangled my twisted memory.

A little while after I arrived, hairstylist, make-up professionals, and those in charge of the hair wash started swarming in. All dressed up in black and armed with their respective tools, they laid everything on the dressing table with efficiency and aided fellow female ambassadors in a partial makeover. I must say that some were truly professionals while others were just fraud but nobody gave a damn as long as the customers looked extremely gorgeous in the cover photo shoot.

Not many knew about the roadshow on Wednesday, which accounted for the low number of customers at the end of the day. Us runners who were in charge of the water for hair wash had so much time to spare that we were forced to fill up the gaps between ambassadors and start pushing sales. Absurd! Of course, nobody was happy with that and we rebelled by lazing around and chatting with the ambassadors. Negative comments about our performance bombarded at us during the briefing which was held right after the roadshow ended at 10. I bet no one kept those words in their heart because I myself didn’t get a word as I don’t hear wind. Heh!

The second day had gotten better as the pages began to fill up with names of customers. Which in English means that there were more hair wash and runners had something to do to bust boredom and attention. Us runners were keeping our fingers crossed at all times for more hair wash so that we didn’t have to perform duty like promoting Sunsilk products that’s out of a runner’s job scope.

As the weekend drawn closer, the number of customers kept increasing. Runners had to make more rounds to the toilet to fetch sufficient water supply for the tank and of course pour the dirt water away into the cleaner’s room in the male’s lavatory. Our schedules were getting more hectic by day and soon 4 runners seemed to not suffice to accomplish the piling workload. Our job had definitely gone from relaxing to exhausting and torturing.

How hard we wished the queue to be shorter and the traffic to be lighter but the wishes were never granted. We grumbled as we refilled the tank and rumbled as we scooped out the dirty water. I  ranted more when one guy chickened out at the beginning of the hectic weekend and failed to find himself a replacement. Irresponsible is the only word that could describe him. So the remaining 3 of us worked our asses off and prayed hard for it to stop soon. If you notice, our prayers contradicted with that of the first day. =)

At last, 5 consecutive days of  Sunsilk roadshow came to an end at 10.30pm on Sunday. Although the total sales may not be as high as those in Mid-Valley and Sungai Wang, but it was a great achievement by all of us as we strived hard for it. Not really actually. I’m glad that the sales weren’t that high. Hence, a treat by our supervisors in Ss 2’s Pelita.

-End-

Wait.. Here’s a lovely pic of a slacking supervisor.

August 31st

My holiday is so occupied with part time jobs, hang outs, TV series catch-ups, and farewell gatherings that I didn’t have time to put up a brief update on my past as well as current status. Last week, roughly about 11 of us who were previously being invited by Sheryl or Qing Han, who kindly helped Sheryl with the invitation, made it to One Utama for a brief lunch outing at TGIF.

The outing was Sheryl’s farewell gathering as she was about to fly over and now already flew over to the States on the 8th of August for her tertiary education. If you are a friend of Sheryl’s, you might already know that her father doesn’t really give her the permission to hang out with her friends even when she’s having a 3 months break before she embarks for the States. Of course, we were in luck to have Sheryl at the gathering on that day itself.

It was a Friday afternoon when we strolled around the shopping complex to find ourselves a suitable eatery. It was Chilis that first came to mind before all others as usual. And since Chilis is a restaurant that’s just so appealing to practically everybody who gallivants at One Utama, it was rather expected that the restaurant was jam-packed at that very moment, lunch hour.

However, it was wonderful to have Qing Han in our gang as she hurled suggestions of restaurants incessantly that we eventually had trouble choosing the best out of them. There was even a fancy restaurant suggested by Qing Han, which according to her, has swings and all, that sounded so romantic, which obviously is more suitable for couples rather than a group of people.

At TGIF, we sat down at a corner and started flipping the menu while waiting for a few others to arrive. Only Aaron, Luther, Lenny, Sheryl, Peter and Kenneth ate while the rest of us just had a drink. We chatted. What other topics can we get with Matthew, Qing Han, and Peter on the table, except for lame and nonsensical topics? Of course, picture sessions must not be missed out with Felix in the gang.

We went our separate ways right after the lunch. =) What a short yet memorable outing!

3rd Job

26th of July, 2009

Yawn~ I woke up reluctantly to the annoying buzz of my alarm. Sitting up on my bed with my eyes half-closed, I gazed through the water-stained windows. It was a drizzly Sunday morning, a perfect morning to sleep in but I had to get myself ready or I’ll be late for work. Putting on a pair of slacks and a black tee, I drove off to Central Park One Utama.

Today, Cadbury organized an event called the “Sweet Fighter Challenge” that gave the opportunity to people of all walks of life to win prizes that includes PSP, hampers, Cadbury chocolates, and souvenirs. Of course, there’s a catch. To win big prizes like PSP, people have to team up into groups of 4 or 5 and participate in a carnival game that has 6 simple stations to complete. Needless to say, the group that manages to complete all 6 stations in the shortest time wins the prize. As for the small gifts, people would only have to play a mini game. However, only those who purchased Cadbury products of up to RM20 are eligible to participate in both carnival and mini games. One receipt for only one participant in the carnival game and 3 rounds of mini games yo.

This morning, the people in charge along with 13 other marshals and ambassadors were hiding from the rain under a huge white tent, looking all tired and sleepy while contestants of the “Sweet Fighter Challenge” gradually filled up the park. Judging by the bad weather condition, I actually thought that the event would be called off, but I never guessed that people were so willing to sacrifice their sleeping time and fight through the rain just to win prizes. Malaysians.

After being briefed of what we were supposed to do, we dispersed and stood guard at our respective stations. The deejay blasted the music and the emcee tested the sound system with the mic in his hand while the contestants waited eagerly in front of the registration desk. I swore I would’ve punched the emcee in the face if I could get away with it later on because he made grammar mistakes and kept reiterating. Annoying.

Anyways, the event officially started after the CEO or whatever of Cadbury gave a concise speech and cut loose a bundle of Cadbury-branded helium balloons.

So, I was in charge of the very first station, “Warring Faction,” where I and 2 other fellow marshals had to make sure that the black balls oscillate at all times while contestants make their way through the swinging balls. If one of the balls were to hit them, they had to go back to the starting point. Easy-peasy job.

As for the second station, contestants had to put exactly 30 oranges into a gunny sack or they would be given a 1 minute penalty. It’s not as easy as it sounds because with 4 or 5 people putting in oranges at the same time, it would be chaotic and there’s a high chance that miscalculations would occur. I’m only familiar with 2 stations and besides, I’m too lazy to explain further, so that would be it.

Mini games. There’re a few mini games such as Bowl-A-Ball, Bytesketball, and yada-yada. Prizes to win include packets of Cadbury Bytes, Choclairs, Cadbury puzzles, and Cadbury photo frame. All the lame prizes but who cares, they’re all free.

The event ended at around 4 something, earlier than the actual ending time, which was supposed to be at 5.30. There was nothing else we could do but were asked to wait while Alex, the person in charge went to fetch our pay. So we clumped together under the shade, grabbed ourselves chairs and chatted. Then came the best part, which was when Alex came back with a stack of 50 dollar notes and I got paid RM120 on the spot! Whee~

If Cadbury were to hold another event, I would definitely love to work again! =)

The Truth

A tag is always a good idea for a fresh start and it’s been a while since I’d done a tag. So here I am seated in the living room wide awake in the middle of the night, stealing tags out of Facebook and posting them up in my blog. Who cares? You’re going to learn more about me anyway.

40 secrets about myself.

1. Have you ever been asked out?

* Yes. And it would make me a pathetic loner if no one had asked me out.

2. Where was your default picture taken?

* Genting Highlands.

3. What's your middle name?

* I don't have one.

4. Your current relationship status?

* Single.

5. Does your crush like you back?

* No? That's a definite answer if you're skeptical about the "NO" because of the question mark that came right after.

6. What's your current mood?

* Moodless.

7. What color of underwear are you wearing?

* The most beautiful color you can ever imagine.

8. What color of shirt are you wearing?

* What kind of questions are these?

9. Missing something?

* Sense and Logic.

10. If you could go back in time and change something, what would you do?

* Bring dinosaurs alive?

11. If you must be an animal for a day, what would it be?

* A bird although I have slight acrophobia.

12. Ever had a near death experience?

* I almost drowned in a pool.

13. Something you do a lot?

* Online.

14. The song stuck in your head?

* So Close.

15. Who did you copy and paste this from?

* Jethro.

16. Name someone with the same birthday as you .

* Vi Iyin

17. When was the last time you cried?

* Forgotten.

18. Have you ever sung in front of a large audience?

* Never. I would've freaked out if I were to.

19. If you could have one super power, what would it be?

* Ability to fly.

20. What's the first thing you noticed about the opposite sex?

* The different feeling when I interact with them.

21. What do you usually order from Starbucks?

* It used to be hot chocolate but it's going to be mocha the next time I visit the shop.

22. What's your biggest secret?

* I don't do drugs.

23. Favorite color?

* I don't have a particular one.

24. Do you still watch kiddie movies or tv shows?

* Does Ice-Age count?

25. What's on your walls?

* Dull white paint!

26. What are you?

* A nocturnal animal.

27. Do you speak any other languages?

* Malay, Mandarin, and a little Cantonese.

28. What's your favorite smell?

* Fragrance!

29. Describe your life in one word.

* Lucky.

30. Have you ever kissed in the rain?

* Is this some kinda fairy tale in the making?

31. What are you thinking about right now?

* Finishing this crap and hit the sack.

33. What should you be doing?

* I'm supposed to be sleeping!

34. Who was the last person that made you upset?

* No one. But there would be an answer if the question were to be "Who was the last person that made you happy?"

35. How often do you talk to God?

* Not very often.

36. Do you like working in the yard?

* I would love to if I'm allowed to drive the tractor.

37. If you could have any last name in the world, what would you want?

* That's just going to be more thinking and I'm not doing that right now.

38. Do you act differently around the person you like?

* At times.

39. What is the natural color of your hair?

* Black.

40. Who was the last person to make you cry?

* I'm a cheerful person. =)